Tag Archives: Microchips

In a worthy sequel to Red Dog, here is Brown Dog’s story, another true tale of adventure, love and loss from Australia’s outback.

Brown Dog, whose real name is Garry (yes, Garry) is alive and well and now enjoying the good life in Sydney.

But it wasn’t always so. Garry’s story comes in two parts – part one sets the scene and part two provides the conclusion in next week’s column.

In the meantime rest easy in the knowledge that this is one lost dog tale with a happy ending. Thanks go to Garry’s people Dom and Lucy for sharing this story.

It all started in 2006 when young Dom had the idea of a quick road trip up through Australia’s Red Centre. The breathtaking colour and isolation of outback Australia struck a chord and what was envisaged as a three month foray into the grandeur of the Alice Springs area became a sojourn lasting years. Dom found employment as a tour guide and settled down in the Alice, even buying a house there. Over time, Dom decided he would love to have a dog.

A friend found a little stray of indeterminate breed and age – possibly a Jack Russell cross, possibly aged around four years. Brown dog became Dom’s dog and was promptly christened Garry. Garry was mainly brown, with patches of white, grey and black. Extremely intelligent, quick, loveable and affectionate, Garry soon secured a huge place in Dom’s heart, even though Garry turned out to be the Houdini of the Alice.

He was an accomplished escape artist, with a daring passion for adventure. READ MORE HERE

TO chip or not to chip is no longer the question for dog owners. It’s the law.

Legislation passed in July made it compulsory for dog owners to micro-chip their canine friends.

However, despite the new legislation, confusion still reigns over exactly what micro-chipping provides and why dogs must be both micro-chipped and council registered.

Hobart Dogs’ Home manager Alan Norris said many dog owners were confused as to why they had to register their dog with the local council and pay a further fee, which can be as much as $80. READ MORE HERE

INCLUDING point-of-sale information on pet microchip data could help tackle the problem of pet over-population on the Central Coast, environment groups have claimed.

Community Environment Network spokeswoman Louise Greenaway said the group gave cautious support to a proposal from the Pet Industry Association to include details of where a dog was bought on its microchip file. READ MORE HERE

“Owner Mitch Greig is distraught his best mate could have had major surgery without his knowledge or approval, given the cavalier King Charles spaniel is registered and microchipped.
Devastated his dog has lost a leg, he is just as appalled Billy, whom he planned to breed, has also been desexed.
Mr Greig wants to know how a much-loved pet could be presented by a stranger as a first-time animal patient to a vet and the dog not automatically be scanned for a potentially life-saving microchip.
“It’s bad enough he has lost a leg, which had been getting veterinary treatment at great cost to me, but I had plans to breed him and he has been irreversibly desexed,” Mr Greig said.”What’s the point of paying for microchipping, which proves ownership, if they aren’t going to check it.”

Mr Greig spent weeks putting up posters and sending flyers to southeast suburban vets when Billy disappeared on July 31.
“I’ve come to Melbourne from Brisbane and Billy was my best and only mate,” he said. “I’d got the cat, Eli, to keep him company while I was at work and Eli was just as devastated when Billy vanished as I was.”
His joy when told at the weekend Billy had turned up at the Lost Dogs’ Home turned to horror when he was told the dog had only three legs and had been desexed.

Billy was handed in still in the blue coat he was wearing when he disappeared but with a new collar replacing his old ID tag with his name and owner’s contact details.

As a pup, Billy suffered a serious leg injury that had been surgically treated, and he walked with a limp.
“Any vet should’ve been able to tell it was a longstanding injury that had been treated. Someone somewhere has paid thousands of dollars to to have my dog’s leg amputated and have him desexed when they could have got a new pup the same breed for a fraction the price.”

Australian Veterinary Association Victorian president Bill Harkin said the case was “strange”.

“The problem could have been the person presenting it may have said it was their pet,” he said. “New pets are presented to vets for the first time many, many times a day.

“They have moved house perhaps and vets have to take it on good faith the animal belongs to that person.
“If they say they found it in the street, then yes, you are obliged to scan the animal. But the purpose of a microchip is identification when required and not to be checked every time presented to a veterinary practice.”